Rebranding...

Hi all,

You may have noticed the title of my blog has now changed to Knight Knits. I wanted to get away from the Unfinished Symphony stigma as I've now proven that I can finish things I start by completing a few projects so it's onwards and upwards in preparation for the new year! :)

I deliberated over my lunch break what the new title should be and decided on 'Knight Knits' as thought it would be good to incorporate my name so I can add this to my creations (and also Knight and Knit are very similar so was trying to think of a clever word play....clearly I failed.)

If you can think of any different witty titles please feel free to send them to me at KnightKnits@hotmail.co.uk (my new site email address!...this is all getting very official!) and I'll happily consider a re-branding in the new year if it's better than what I've got....come on folks, surely that can't be hard, get those thinking caps on!

TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

It's a wrap!

Hi readers!

I've been scrolling through my "what I'd like to make lists" and craft sites to find my next big project to keep me interested whilst making my secret baby projects for my sister's bump as I find that I have a tendency to get bored of a project which is why it sits unfinshed in a bag or box for months (or more commonly years...) so my new technique is to get more than one project on the go that I'm excited about so I can chop and change between them whenever I get chance to be crafty :)

I found this lovely wrap that a lady had made as she couldn't find anything to go with her dress for a new year's eve party several years ago and is a little on the more cuddly side like my good self so the pattern caters for ladies with "strong" arms :)

All I had to do then is decide what wool I'd like to use for it as there are so many I love out there at the moment, especially the fine or wispy ones like Debbie Bliss Angel which make beautiful wraps with lace knit patterns but unfortunately these start between £7 and £9 per ball... ! So I finally decided (or rather my budget decided) that I'd go for this at a bargain £2.99 a ball from a little shop my hubby spotted in Northumberland on a recent trip:

So my plan is to get started on this at the weekend (for the 5th time...I struggled to focus on it whilst finishing off my monkeys and stockings so always lost the plot by the 7th or 8th row and kept pulling it out!) and I'll keep it stored neatly in my new wool basket next to the sofa in the living room because it will make a nice feature (and of course be handy when I want to do 10 rows while catching up on Corrie!) :)

Will keep you posted on the progress of this one over the coming months whilst blogging about my smaller projects in between,
TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Hi folks!

As Christmas is just around the corner I wanted to make something to start a tradition that I can continue through the years as it's always nice to have that personal touch and those tatty little snowmen made out of toilet rolls tubes and cotton wool that your son or daughter made for you 20 years ago and have made an appearance every year since (if only to embarrass them!) :)

So each year from now I'll be added a piece to my collection that I've made myself, some years may be a big project (if i get them finished in time...) but I feel most will be small things to add here and there.

My first addition to my home will be little mini stockings to hang on the tree and fill with edible goodies - that way I get my hubby interested in this new tradition too as he is a definitely a fan of hidden sweets and chocolates on the tree :)

As soon as I began knitting these I was hooked because they're so small and quick to make I get to see the end result withing a day or two of starting, definitely a bonus for a person with so many unfinished symphonies.... :) The other thing to grab my attention was a new technique to add to my repetoire which I am now in love with - Fairisle or Intarsia knitting! I got to have a go at Fairisle on a very inexpensive and not very time consuming project and I must say I was very impressed with my first attempt...(the first one is the red and white diamond design)

So I made these 3 up and of course did what any self-respecting crafter does, went to seek the approval of two of my main critics, the parents :) I left their house with my chest puffed out after receiving praise and beaming smiles for my cute little decorations......and an order for 6 more for their tree!! (and I must say, annoyingly one of the ones I knitted for mum was definitely my best one so far so I'm on with duplicating it for my own tree!) :)

Now to buy some choccies to put in them......
TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

Monkey Business!

Hi readers!!

Well I'm a bit late in posting this but I'm going to be an Auntie again!! My sister this time and I can't wait! She's due 18th May so plenty time to get some crafting done and of course I have countless ideas whizzing through my head (and will most likely not get any of them done!)

Of course I couldn't say anything to begin with anyway but since I have been able to shout it to the world I've been deliberating over whether to post as the things I'll be making will be gifts to my sister and there's always the risk that she might stumble across this thread....but after thinking about it for a while I decided that there's a cats chance in hell that she'll read my craft blog (in fact will anyone read this blog now.....if not then am I just talking to myself, and if I am does that make me a crazy lady...)

So my impatient nature won over and I had to post this because I'm so chuffed with myself for actually finishing something in such a short space of time!! Here are the colours I'll be working with for my "baby makes" as these match with colour theme of the nursery.....

And here are the first makes with these wools - I chose these because my sister has always liked monkeys and had many soft toys when she was younger so thought this might be a nice personal touch.....meet Charlie and Carly:

I'm chuffed to bits with them, hopefully my sis will stick to her colour scheme for the nursery and these little outfits will match but I can always knit them a change of clothes if not! :)

I'm going to wrap these up for Christmas because I can't wait until May to give them to her so I'll have to start thinking of something else to make now to give her when the baby is born.....what a shame! ;)

and remember for any of those of you out there who are fortunate to know my lovely sister....ssh, it's a secret! :)

Ta ta for now!
Mrs K
xx

Ta da!

Finally! I finished another project, my baby blanket is complete :)

I think though I was that excited to get it finished I maybe didn't concentrate enough and rushed sewing the edging onto the blanket. I should have taken time in hindsight to tack it on so I didn't just blindly sew round and guess how much I needed on each side (although I did keep laying it out while I was finishing knitting the edging to ensure I had enough). so as my casting on and first couple of rows on the edge was VERY loose I ended up having to run over a little bit and sew up the loose stitches which means I have a little bit more on the last corner than the others.

But all in all, I'm very pleased with myself, no dropped stitches or errors that weren't corrected :)

All I need to do now is give it a good wash in Dreft, then lay it out and block it to make sure it keeps it's shape when drying then I can wrap it up in tissue and pack it away in my "bottom drawer for babies" :) - I can see now I've finished and attached the edging that it's taken that long the main blanket is a good few shades darker where I started it to the end and the edge! I'm sure it will be fine after washing, fingers crossed! :)

Onto the next project now.............
Mrs K
xxx

My Current Project - Baby Blanket

When I started this blog I decided that I would use it as motivation to finish off some of the projects that I started and never quite got round to finishing off. The first one I wanted to tackle is the most recently started as I actually got onto step 2 of 2 (in the photo above) so it won't take me too long to get something ticked off the 'to do' list and motivate me to move onto the next mammoth task :)

I went through one of my phases last year when I found out several of my friends were pregnant, the first being my sister-in-law, where I thought I could make gifts for them all so started trawling the internet for pretty (but relatively easy) knitting projects as I know how to do most of it but I'm EXTREMELY slow....I'm a lefty and never quite grasped the 'proper' technique for holding needles and winding yarn etc.. so I just established my own over time which of course isn't as speedy (but then is anything i do speedy?). My main requirement for any baby pattern was that it used only 2 standard needles (I allowed for transferring parts onto holders etc.. as I can handle that but as soon as square knitting (4 needles ) or circular needles were mentioned I went straight back to Google! :)

So I found a lovely baby blanket pattern (it was called 'Easy Baby Blanket' so caught my eye!) on knittingpatterncentral.com - which is incidentally a great site for patterns - and decided to knit it for the arrival of my niece/nephew in the summer.......my nephew is now coming up to 8 months old.

I've now decided that I still love the pretty lace edging and will complete the project then washed it, wrap it and pack it away for my first little one and hopefully I'll have it finished for them and not our first grandchild!

TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

Food For Thought.....

Food For Thought
Ok, so I know my blog is about crafts but I thought I'd add a little 'aside' on my other favourite topic....food.

It's no secret that not only do I love eating, I love to cook but especially to bake things. So I thought as well as sharing my craft projects on the blog, I should also share some of my culinary creations for times of craft overload!

Here's my first creation to post, granted this isn't a recent creation, in fact this particular one in the photo is almost 4 years old now since I first baked this when we moved into this house......aah, back when the kitchen was sparkly new and I wanted to be a domestic goddess in our new country home. I was so proud of this first one I took a couple of photos!

I've always had a soft spot for carrot cake, so when I found this Delia recipe I just had to try it and I wasn't disappointed (and neither were my official tasters!) - I'd highly recommend trying this out, it's so moist and the marscapone is gorgeous, but if carrot sounds a little too healthy for you (even smothered in marscapone frosting) then never fear, just have a go at her Coffee & Walnut, another favourite of mine and just as moist and delicious - Enjoy!

The Famous First Quilt.....

Right, let's get the ball rolling...

Here it is - my very first, properly completed, project (although some will argue that as I'd never heard of 'blocking' at this point and towards the end it was a bit of a rush job....not like me I know!)

I decided in 2004 that I would save money by making Christmas gifts for our family instead of buying them and it would mean more too that I'd took time to make things. So off I toddled to some craft shops and ended up spending a fortune on all the things I needed (and didn't need if I'm honest!).

For my mum I decided to make a patchwork quilt - a bigger task than I'd anticipated but I'm so glad I did it now - and because I spent around £100 on the materials and tools and didn't have any money left to buy a backup gift I had no choice but to finish it this time! So I started it in June thinking I had plenty time to get it finished then start on other things, only to realise 6 months later....on Christmas Eve.....that it surprisingly took a long time to make! I was up until around 1am on Christmas morning finishing the quilt, acquiring a few cuts and pricked fingers from a mixture of tiredness and frustration - I can honestly say that blood, sweat and tears were shed in the efforts to finish the quilt....but finish it I did and I couldn't be prouder. And the cherry on the cake was seeing my mum's face on Christmas morning when she opened it, priceless.

Introduction...

Hi peeps!

I've wanted to write a blog for so long but have just been trying to figure out what exactly i wanted to write about! I've finally decided that it should be about something I'm interested in and that I can ramble on about and realised that my favourite subject was anything craft related....although my lovely husband will tell you I can ramble about anything and everything and could probably write a blog on ‘how to never shut up’….I suppose I should dedicate this page to him as the more I ramble on here, the less earache I’ll give him!

You may be wondering what crafts have to do with Beethoven or his 10th Symphony (the 'Unfinished' one) well, most of my family and friends will know that the reference is more to me as I hardly ever finish anything I start and therefore acquired the nickname ‘Beethoven’ from my parents in my childhood (thanks mum and dad!)

I have started MANY craft projects throughout my life and, excluding the odd little carrier bag holder or CDT projects at school, the only real project I ever finished was the patchwork blanket I made for mum as a Christmas present and I'm so proud of it I tell everyone still to this day (whether they want to be told or not). I thought it was about time I finished some of my other projects which I've started over time and continued starting (and finishing) new ones and thought I could blog on my journey to (hopefully) boast about the end products!

So here I am, Sarah ‘Beethoven’ Knight (most of you thought my middle name was Jayne didn’t you!) and here I’ll stay sharing my projects, successes, failures and ideas with the world one blog at a time...